Is it okay to query job rejection under disability scheme

[DCapplicant]

apologies posting here for traffic.
I have ASD and applied to a junior role with a public sector regulatory body who is part of the disability confident scheme. Not civil service.
This is their words from job ad:

“Minimum
We are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, who best meet the minimum criteria for a role.

• Prior experience of payments, financial services or policy making
• Prior experience in a role which has involved teamwork and collaboration with others.”

I applied under the scheme (ticked box on their form) as someone who has experience in all of the above criteria, mentioned on my CV / application.

I also exceeded the minimum criteria for applying under the disability confident scheme and met the more general criteria too.
Don’t want to out myself but I work within Payments for a central bank which operates very similarly to the company hiring who rejected me. I can’t think of a more similar company than my own to this company I got rejected from.

Usually I would never query a job rejection from the first stage even if I meet all requirements but it’s only as I applied under the disability confident scheme and work for such a similar company, with similar background.

Even if it’s a case of them getting swamped with applicants, I can’t imagine that many others were applying under the disability confident scheme who also had such a similar background.

I have also applied twice previously to this company under their disability confident scheme and was rejected then too (similar story of meeting minimum requirements but not getting past first stage), but at those times I just thought never mind, better luck next time.

Now being rejected three times in a row when applying under disability confident scheme is really gutting. What else can I do? I don’t understand when I’ve met the min requirements and shown on my CV.
Sounds bit crazy but can I query what they’re looking for as their job ads all have a HR contact email.

I have also had my CV checked by professionals in my industry, the same CV has had me shortlisted for other roles in this industry when I met less of the requirements.

I would, there could have been an admin error or it could be that someone there needs additional training. I have done it in the past where I felt I met the essential criteria. Sent a polite email just stating this and that I had ticked the box and could they review it. I did get a reply. It didn’t go anywhere unfortunately as they didn’t feel I had met the essential criteria but was good to have that dialogue with them

I'm not familiar with the Disablity Confident scheme, but an employer doesn't have to employ you because you're disabled. Lots of people get rejected lots of times when they apply for jobs.
You were guaranteed an interview, and you had one. That's more than a lot of applicants would have got. But you have to accept that there was someone more suited to the role than you are.

If you really want to work there, it might be worth very politely enquiring and asking for some feedback. I would probably phrase it that way, rather than make it sound like a complaint, if you hope to apply again in future. The govt page of disability confident employer scheme does say it isn’t an interview guarantee, though.

Did you not get an interview?

I would contact HR and enquire

They shouldn't be advertising that they are part of the scheme and then not interviewing

I don’t think they have had an interview though, seems they aren’t keeping to the disability confident scheme - similar happened to my sister and it was a government department that rejected her after she ticked the disability box and met the minimum criteria

I would politely just enquire, I’ve had this before and they had mistakenly missed that it was under the scheme, maybe it’s an admin mistake or they can say why they don’t think you match the essentials.

Reading the OP my understanding is that they didn’t get an interview but their application was rejected at shortlisting. If they met all the essential criteria they should have been offered an interview under the scheme. This is the third time it has happened.

an employer doesn't have to employ you because you're disabled. Lots of people get rejected lots of times when they apply for jobs. You were guaranteed an interview, and you had one

As a disabled woman myself, I agree with this. You're not guaranteed the job. That wouldn't be right, IMO.

EDIT: Sorry, I misread. If you didn't get an interview, I would ask. Apologies.

@betterangels you are right, as another disabled woman myself, but that isn’t what the OP is saying

No, my mistake. I misread and edited and apologised while you posted.

@KnickerlessParsons Yes of course, I don’t expect an interview just because I’m disabled! 🙃 I think I briefly mentioned in my original post, I would never query a rejection even when I meet all requirements of a job ad.

However the disability confident scheme is something some employers (usually public sector) are themselves choosing to offer, which is where if you clearly meet their minimum requirements they will shortlist you.
Also, my background and current employer is very very similar. Even if thare were huge amount of applicants (eg 500) for this role, and only 50 were shortlisted to the next stage, I highly doubt 50 more people had such a similar background as I do and also all applying under disability confident scheme.

Bare in mind the next stage is not interview stage, it’ll be case study/activity and so a lot more people are shortlisted compared to when you get to the final interview stage where very few are. I didn’t even make it through the first stage.

It does sound like they've not followed their own procedures - therefore I would bring this to their attention. However, would you really want to work for a company that clearly only pays lip service to employing people with disabilities?

Thanks, I don’t want to sound rude or bitter towards them but I’m genuinely really curious to know what prevented me getting me through to know how to improve for next time.

A lot of people will meet those minimum criteria - they are very broad.

Even if you’re applying under the Disability Confident scheme, most organisations will restrict the number of interviews offered if they get too many applicants.

Our recruitment software hides the fact that applicants have declared a disability, presumably to avoid discrimination. Worth asking, as I'm sure we accidentally miss people who should be guaranteed an interview despite best intentions

@IKEAJesus Yes you’re right, they are extremely broad so will have more applicants.
I presumed they’d prioritise those who ‘best’ met the requirements and hopefully I don’t sound crazy but I still thought I would, because my company, department and role is so similar.

The company that rejected me has a page on their website about who they work with and my company is right at the top. My company is also then mentioned throughout their website as they ‘co-operate’ on same mission (I don’t want to out myself so won’t say anymore but I’d like to think I’m not being delusional in thinking I have very similar background).

Agree with this. I’ve know someone get an interview after asking for confirmation of how candidates were selected under this scheme. Worth asking.

I used to work for a very large public sector organisation that had the disability confident accreditation. Unfortunately this meant nothing in terms of how they handled any issues relating to disability including recruitment. You should have been offered an interview, unless so many disabled people who also met the criteria also applied, meaning it would be unreasonable to expect them to interview everyone in that category. I would ask them for feedback as they may not have been applying the disability confident requirements properly in the recruitment process.

The scheme guarantees you an interview not an offer. It doesn't mean you get first refusal. If they had a lot of applicants then it could have been anything. Someone who had more experience than you or maybe worked with the same systems previously, was happy to take the lower end of the salary.

Maybe an internal applicant who already worked well with the team and would require no extra training.

Might be as simple as you didn't come across as well as they did.

@Balloonhearts op isn’t complaining that she hasn’t got an offer, she talking about not being offered an interview despite the scheme, hence the question.

We’re a DC employer.

Unfortunately, the people who set out the recruitment approach didn’t consider that when deciding that every job had to be advertised pan-globe for a month at a time, so we get hundreds of applications for every post.

I was looking into this last week and discovered that on a role with 500+ applicants, we had over 100 that met the minimum criteria that had ticked the DC box. With the best will in the world we can’t interview over 100 people (and exclude every non-DC applicant) per role. They went through and ranked the DC candidates first and then the others and took the top 10 of each. (Our DC wording doesn’t commit us to interview every candidate that meets minimum criteria, thankfully.)

@Balloonhearts I didn’t even get through first stage (where most will get through), let alone the interview stage (less people make it to this stage).

& I definitely wouldn’t expect the scheme to guarantee an offer

Just send an email asking them about it.

It can't do any harm.

@ItTook9Years thank you, it could again be a case of numbers even considering DC applicants as I understand the job as was junior role and the requirements are very broad. Although, I’ve now been rejected 3 times from this company.
I’m also super keen to work for them, and thought because I work for an equivalent company that would count for something but clearly not

Thank you! I really hope they won’t blacklist me for sounding desperate and asking after a first stage rejection but hoping this is less likely with public sector?

I know some private sector companies may have policies where if you get rejected once you can’t apply for a while. I’m really hoping public sector don’t (nothing mentioned on this company’s careers site anyway)